1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved surfactant-impregnated cleansing pad and to a method of making the same.
2. Prior Art
Soap-containing cleansing and/or scouring pads are widely used to clean kitchen utensils, kitchen counters, automobiles and any of a wide variety of other soiled surfaces. One popular cleansing pad, sold under the trade designation "SOS" scouring pad, is formed of steel wool impregnated with a soap composition. Such a pad is undesirable for many users because, besides being formed of a material which will rust upon exposure to moisture, it rapidly loses its soap loading after a few short uses or a single extended use.
Attempts have been made to extend the surfactant use life of a cleansing pad by employing a binder material to retard the dissolution of surfactant. Poor results have been obtained with thermosetting or crosslinkable resins such as polyurethane, epoxide resin, phenolic resin, and the like, because they generally cure to a water-insoluble composition from which the soap or detergent is not easily extracted. Water-swellable or water-soluble binder materials such as hydrophilic proteinaceous agglutinates (e.g., gelatin or casein) were employed with limited success to retard the dissolution of anionic and/or nonionic surfactant, as disclosed in assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,999. U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,055 describes a cleaning pad impregnated with a butyl rubber binder formed from a latex and a detergent, preferably anionic, to obtain a long-life pad. While these cleansing pads have a moderately extended cleansing life due to the presence of a binder material, they have been found to be generally unsatisfactory by most consumers.